‘Seventeen’ Opens Shop In Habbo
Posted by meredith on 06-10-2009
Earlier today Seventeen magazine and teen virtual world Habbo announced a summer partnership where over the next few months teens will be able to virtually hang out in the Seventeen branded Beauty Salon, read featured articles, attend in-game events, and get advice from Seventeen editors and surprise celebrity visitors.
“We want [our readers] to see that Seventeen is out there. We know where they are and we’re immersing ourselves in their communities,” says Seventeen.com senior web editor Julie Hochheiser, emphasizing that the goal for this “test” is less about any specific metrics (although obviously both sides are looking to increase site traffic) and more about spreading brand awareness across multiple platforms. One way Hochheiser and her team hope to do this is by adding value through exclusive items including free downloads of Seventeen wallpaper for readers’ desktops.
An overall strategy that makes a lot of sense with the number of teens in virtual worlds steadily growing — according to eMarketer, 18% of online teens will visit virtual worlds on at least a monthly basis in 2009, and by 2013, 25% will– and the number of glossy teen print publications steadily shrinking leaving only Seventeen and fellow stalwart Teen Vogue. Additionally, for two years running now Habbo’s annual Youth Survey Brand Update has ranked Seventeen the favorite magazine section among girls.
According to Hochheiser, while experiments in the recent past, including Seventeen’s one-off campaign with vMTV and CosmoGirl’s presence on There.com, have been “innovative,” no one has yet been able to really “hit the nail on the head.” What strikes me as a step in a new direction is the idea of a girly space — with a focus on dating, health and fitness and fashion,etc — within a more generic virtual world. In some ways I feel like this is a more true reflection of how girls interact with the magazines in real life — not defining themselves primarily by their gendered interests, but still appreciating the content and the community. Also, true to real life? Teen boys “stumbling across” the material. According to Teemu Huuhtanen, executive VP of Marketing and Business Development at Sulake, “so far the split [ of the nearly 20,000 members in the Seventeen group on Habbo] is girls 72% and boys 28%… What we are seeing is that a campaign we originally envisioned as primarily for girls is appealing to boys too.”
Categorized under: Magazines, Web